


In Sickness, In Health

by SomethingFishy



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Explicit Language, F/M, Ghost Hunters, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Graphic Description of Corpses, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mystery, Psychologists & Psychiatrists, Suicide, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:44:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6340918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomethingFishy/pseuds/SomethingFishy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a year of no contact, a late night phone call brings the entire SPR team from Japan to England. An investigation at a run-down hospital has gone wrong and Naru needs a team he can trust.</p>
<p>**Re-Written Version**</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The dream started the way it usually did. The colors were faded, muted like an old photograph. It came to her with a quick, gut-wrenching feeling of being somewhere she didn’t belong. Mai knew these dreams like breathing; she’d only been having them for as long as she could remember. Once she knew what they were, she’d learned to recognize them immediately, and this one was no different than the rest.

Mai looked around, not knowing where she was. Usually her dreams were triggered by something, like the investigations she used to work on with Naru, when he had still been in Japan. He was the one who taught her what these dreams were in the first place so being clueless as to where her location wasn’t the norm. Even when she had dreams that weren’t connected to investigations, rare as they were, she would at least be able to vaguely recognize her location.

She was surrounded by pale green fields, and a slim dirt road unfurled under her feet. There was a building off in the distance, so she started walking towards it, wading through the heartbeat like pulses of energy that flowed off of it. Slowly, the dirt road turned to cracked concrete, which turned to asphalt, under her sneakers. The hills were gentle, and a breeze shook the trees that were becoming more frequent. Mai felt peaceful, and just followed the road until it broke into a footpath. She felt pulled towards the left, and walked the path up a hill, so the building slipped out of her sight.

There were two people standing at the top of a hill that she walked up and Mai recognized them immediately, even though they didn’t seem to fit into the picturesque landscape. Lin and Naru were pale silhouettes of men, framed in black wool against the grey sky; stark against the pastel world she was in. Naru’s red scarf seemed too bright, and she had to squint to get a good look at his face.

He seemed displeased, not outright frowning, but it was obvious he didn’t want to be there. “I don’t like the feeling of this place,” Naru said, in English, his accent giving a rounded sound to his vowels. It was much different than the pristine Japanese she was used to hearing from him, so for the moment, she just decided to listen.

Lin hummed in agreement, rubbing his hands together to warm them. “It is a hospital, Noll.”

Naru shot an annoyed look over his shoulder, “I meant that it feels different than most hospitals. This one is unsettling, even if you’re just looking at it.”

He was right. Just down the hill, squat in a valley, was the hospital they were talking about. It dominated the land, stretching out like it was laying claim to the countryside. The highway Mai had been walking lead right to the front doors, and looped back towards a parking lot that was too new of an addition to match the actual age of the building. It’s dark windows were black holes, and the more Mai examined it, the more uncomfortable she felt. The scent of death clung to the wind, a sticky-sweet smell almost like rotting fruit, that sat on the back of her throat and made her nauseous.

The hospital was _wrong_ . It was a puzzle piece jammed into place backwards and sideways. It didn't fit. The land around the hospital felt calm and peaceful but the building itself oozed hatred, anger, and _hurt_. There was a lot of hurt in the bricks. It was corroding the area around it, the countryside rotting from the inside out.

Naru pulled off his glove, and tucked it into his coat pocket. After a brief hesitation, he dipped his hand into his coat’s breast pocket, and pulled out a hospital arm band. It was small, but not quite small enough to be a child’s. Mai wondered what exactly Naru was doing with a wristband that obviously wasn't his.

He frowned at it, and rubbed his thumb over the name printed onto the plastic. “I can't sense her,” he said, sighing, tucking the wristband back into his breast pocket. He pulled his glove back out of his coat and slipped it on, slotting his fingers together to make sure the fit was snug.

“That's odd,” Lin furrowed his brows, confused.

“It is, but there's still the slim chance that she could be alive. Let's not get our hopes up though, it's been three days.” Naru crossed his arms over his chest. “I want my team here on this case. We could use their respective talents to the fullest and really have a thorough investigation.”

“‘Your team’?” Lin repeated, sounding amused.

Naru shot the taller man an annoyed look, “you know who I mean.”

Mai furrowed her brow, a little confused. Was Naru talking about her and the Shibuya Psychic Research team?

The corner of Lin’s mouth tipped up like he was going to smile, “I know.” Then he grew serious, “but this job, Noll, it’s so dangerous. How are we going to convince them to join us when their very lives could be in danger?”

Mai perked up, definitely sure they were talking about the SPR team. Excited, she bounced a little on her toes, mind full of questions. She wanted to ask them, but she knew she wouldn’t get an answer, since this was just a dream. She slid up to Naru’s side anyway, her shoulder nearly brushing against his arm.

“Money is always a great motivator,” Naru said, shrugging.

“I doubt that money will be enough to bring everyone here all the way from Japan.”

“You never know.” Naru ticked off on his fingers, “Takigawa-san will come if we offer enough money. Ayako-san will be the same. John will come out of obligation, since we need an exorcist and if we just go ahead and call him instead of going through the Vatican, it’ll make everything easier. Hara-san already agreed to come and be a guest of the Ghost Hunters UK team, but only for three days, we can have her join us afterwards.”

“What about Mai?” Lin asked.

“Mai...” Naru sighed, looking torn. “She can’t come to this case.”

“What?” Mai snapped. She whirled around to stare at Naru in disbelief, insulted. She almost punched him in the shoulder, but just barely held back. Instead, she squeezed her hands into fists, her nails biting into her palm.

“Why not? She’d be helpful on this case,” Lin asked.

“With the way her latent ESP works, I’m not sure she would. The entire building is dangerous. It is completely plausible that she won’t be able to catch when someone or something is going to hurt her or the team until it is too late. I don’t want her getting killed here, Lin. You know she’s been attacked by spirits the most out of all of our investigations in Japan.” Naru shoved his hands into his pockets, shrugging.

“I could help!” Mai blurted, hotly. She stepped in front of Naru and peered up at his face, crossing her arms. “You’re making up excuses to not let me come along!”

“Sounds a lot like an excuse to not have to face her again. You and I both know that her dreams, the ones that have given us missing information that we had desperately needed at the time, are invaluable. Mai just might be the exact person we need the most here on this investigation, especially since we have so little background information on this case.” Lin said, expression close to a scowl.

“Do you really think that her presence would help that much?” Naru glanced over at Lin, an eyebrow arched in surprise.

“I do.”

Naru sighed deeply, shifting on his feet. “Fine. We’ll give her a call as well.” Naru and Lin started down the hill, but Naru quickly halted the other man, stepping in front of him. Mai couldn’t see his face but his voice was cold and firm.  “The moment she joins the investigation,” he said, “I don’t want her to _ever_ be alone in the building, understand? No matter what, she will always have someone who is able to protect her. If it’s not me, or Takigawa, I want that person to be you.”

“Oliver, I can’t just-” Lin started, but Naru quickly cut him off.

“Yes you can. I’ve been in control and aware of my gifts much longer than she has, I can get by without your protection for a little while. The moment Mai walks through those front doors, she is going to become a huge target, and I _cannot_ lose another investigator.” Naru said, determined. “You will put her safety before mine, alright?”

“Alright,” Lin agreed reluctantly. He watched as Naru nodded, then turned away and continued down the hill, his scarf snapping in the wind. Sighing, Lin carefully started to follow the younger man down the hill, face grim.

Mai stood still at the top of the hill, feeling like she missed a vital part of the conversation. There was obviously some fact that she didn’t know about this investigation, but that didn’t stop her heart from pounding in her chest. Naru’s insistence on her being safe during this investigation made her hope that maybe, just _maybe_ , he really cared about her wellbeing. She also knew that he took the responsibility of being a leader very seriously, and the safety of an investigator was a top priority. But more than his own?

Mai shook her head, pushing the thoughts away. Thinking about it would just lead her in circles, and get her nowhere. She decided not to worry about it. A dream was a dream; didn’t mean it was true. She closed her eyes, feeling a familiar tug on her consciousness. Giving in, she settled back, letting her eyes open.

It was still dark, and she could barely see. The streetlamp outside her window was flickering,  the yellow light that seeped into her room barely chasing away the shadows. She laid under her warm covers, blinking slowly, for only a moment before her phone started ringing.

Since she had the habit of pressing the snooze button on her alarm, her phone was on her desk, against the opposite wall from her bed. Scrambling, she shoved her blankets to the side, and launched across the room to grab her phone before she missed the call. Snatching the phone up, she nearly dropped it before answering, pressing it to her ear and asking hello like she hadn’t just ran out of bed.

“Mai?” Naru asked, his voice sounding different over the phone. It was probably the Japanese Mai was used to, clean and simple compared to the English he had been speaking in her dream. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I was awake.” Mai tugged down her shirt, suddenly embarrassed, like he could see her standing in the middle of her room in an old tank top and a pair of short-shorts. “Naru, how are you? Is something wrong?”

“Not exactly. I’m calling because I want to ask you to join an investigation of mine. It’s in England, and I’d need you to get here immediately if you want to join in,” Naru said, slowly, like he wasn’t actually sure he wanted to tell her anything.

“An investigation? Of what?” Mai put on her slippers, quietly shuffling into her kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She needed the caffeine, and she needed it now.

“A hospital here in England.” Some sound filtered over the phone, like he was shuffling around some papers. “We’re short on experienced investigators, and I want to work with the best people that I know.”

“Okay,” Mai said, switching her phone from her right to her left ear. “What’s this investigation going to be like? I want to at least be a little bit prepared.”

“It’s dangerous,” Naru said, simply. “Two people have been seriously injured, five people have left, and one person has... died.”

“Died?” Mai set the mug she pulled out of her cupboard down with a heavy thunk. “I’m guessing since you’re calling in more investigators, that this isn’t a case for the newly-hired. Why haven’t you just walked away?”

“The hospital in question is still in use. It’s the only one equipped for three surrounding towns it serves. It’s the only one in the area that has a psychiatric and trauma-intensive care ward. There have always been stories of it being haunted but because of recent construction on an old wing, there has been more, dangerous activity.” Naru sighed, “it’s a tough case, and you will likely get hurt. I’m asking you to come join the investigation, but I will not blame you for saying no.”

Mai bit her lip, watching the water she was heating up bubble. “Naru,” she began slowly, knowing that she caught his attention. “Is this hospital situated in a valley, surrounded by hills, with a... highway leading up to the front doors? Made out of stone, and has maybe ten floors?”

Naru took a moment to reply, “did you dream about a hospital like that?”

“Yes,” Mai moved the pot of water off the stove, before leaning back against the counter. “Right before you called, actually. Is the one I dreamt about the one you’re talking about?”

“It is,” Naru confirmed. “I have to say I’m not that surprised that you had a dream about it already. Was Gene there?”

“In the dream? No. I just walked up a highway until I could see the hospital. It-” Mai searched for a word, “frightened me? No, that’s not right. It made me uncomfortable, so I didn’t get too close.”

“Interesting.” Naru took some time before he continued, and Mai could imagine him writing down what she said in one of his notebooks. “Would you like to join this investigation? I don’t know how long it’s going to last so I can’t give you a return date.”

“Yes,” Mai answered immediately, without even thinking. “I want to be there and help.”

“Alright,” Naru said, “I need you here as soon as possible, preferably within the next 24 hours. There will be a huge time difference between Japan and England, so let’s just work with Tokyo time for now. It’s five am there, correct?”

“Five fifteen,” Mai said, glancing at her microwave.

“I can get you a flight to France from Japan that boards at ten thirty am. You can take a train from Paris to London, and be here in about sixteen hours.” Naru said. “Can you do this? It’s the only option you have, unless you want to pay your own way here. 

Reeling, Mai got the impression that Naru was picking the earliest times and most roundabout travel options just to give her a hard time and make her want to stay home. Scowling, she hurried back to her room, and snatched a notepad up from her desk. Grabbing a marker, she pulled the cap off and asked, “Can you repeat that, I need to write it down.” She could practically hear him rolling his eyes as she copied down his plan, then the flight and train information.

“I’ll send your tickets and extra information to your email,” Naru said, annoyed that she was agreeing to everything. “I’ll see you tonight,” he added, making Mai’s heart skip a beat.

“See you,” she said, staring at her phone after he hung up, a grin spreading across her face.

Tossing her phone onto her bed, she whooped with joy, before remembering it was five in the morning. Keeping her excitement quieter, she bounced on her toes, rushing around her room and gathering things to pack into the one suitcase she owned. Distantly, she worried about her landlord, her job, her school, and her friends, but the idea that she’d be seeing Naru and her team in less than a day was far more thrilling.

An adventure in the making, she thought.


	2. Chapter Two

Mai arrived in England just after dinner time, or so her phone said. The clock had updated itself when she had switched time zones, but her body hadn’t. Sure, being on an airplane and a train meant that she had been sitting for most of the day, but to her body, it was two-thirty something in the morning, and she was exhausted. Her mouth tasted a little bit metallic, and she couldn’t stop blinking quickly. All the colors, with the setting sun painting everything around her a vivid shade of red, seemed a little too bright. She yawned into her fist, shaking her head when her eyelids felt too heavy. Mai straightened her back until she was almost uncomfortably upright, and waited for Lin, who Naru had promised was going to be the one to pick her up. 

Luckily, she didn’t have to wait very long. Lin arrived about two minutes after she stepped outside of the train station into the mid-October English chill. A black sedan smoothly pulled up to the curb she was standing at and parked. Lin got out of the car and dipped his head in greeting.

“Mai,” he said, polite. “It’s good to see you made it.”

“Safe and sound.” She replied, throat suddenly tight. She and Lin didn’t have the greatest friendship, but he had been a constant in her life while she had been working at SPR. Until that very moment, with him standing on just the other side of the car, she hadn’t realized just how much she missed him. The emotion could also be more acute from her lack of sleep but she still had to quickly swipe at her eyes before continuing. 

Mai hefted her suitcase off the ground, so she didn’t have to roll it off of the curb, and met Lin at the boot of the car. He took the suitcase from her and offered to take her carry on, but she declined, making small talk with him before turning towards the passenger’s side front seat.

“Maybe you should get in the back, Mai,” Lin said, pulling the keys from where he had slipped them into his pocket. 

“Why the back?” She asked, curious.

Lin gave her a soft, but pointed look, “you’re exhausted. You can lay down in the back, and take a nap during the drive to the hospital.”

Pink-cheeked, Mai nodded. He certainly wasn’t wrong, so she wasn’t going to fight him about it. She climbed into the backseat and buckled herself in loosely before tipping herself over to the side and laying her cheek against the smooth leather of the backseat. She looked up to Lin, as he climbed in and started up the sedan. He glanced back at her, like he was checking to see if she was safe. It made her smile before she closed her eyes.

Lin pulled away from the curb and easily slid into traffic. The low rumble of the moving car lulled Mai to sleep. She dropped off into dreams between one breath and the next. 

-0-0-0-0-

Mai walked through the hospital, trying to keep her steps as light and quiet as possible. Doing security rounds at three in the morning weren’t bad, but you had to be hyper-aware of your movements. The building was so damn old that the slightest misstep could result in creaking floorboards that echoed like rumbling thunder down the long hallways. One had to be considerate about their level of noise, since patients needed their rest. 

She really did like her job though. She wouldn’t have been doing it for thirty-five years if she didn’t. Mai had done her time and had very slowly learned the idiosyncrasies of the hospital that gave it its personality. Like the creaking floorboards and the squeaky windows and just how exactly a person had to turn the doorknobs to get into the staff bathrooms. Working security was pretty easy, in such a sleepy, small-town hospital.

Except for recently.

Lately, there was always some crisis that seemed to be going on that she struggled with. Almost two years ago, the board of directors had decided to start construction on the main building to get it back in working order. Nordhagen and Dusktown were both growing in size, and only having the west wing of Nordhagen Memorial open just wasn’t going to cut it. They had frequently run out of room in both the ICU and psych units and desperately needed to utilize all the open room that was just rotting away. 

It had been late spring when they had started rebuilding the main hospital. It seemed to go just fine for the first three months but then the workers had started to complain to management that strange happenings were taking place as they did their jobs. Complaints came pouring into security, making Mai run all over the damn place to try and figure out what exactly was going on, before workers just started resigning. Some people just abandoned their jobs in the middle of the day and went home. Eventually, the contractor the hospital had hired pulled out of their deal and left the work unfinished. 

Nine months ago, right after the construction stopped, a nurse went missing between the car park and the A&E door. Her car had been left in the space she usually parked in, but she had never shown up for work. No one could find her. She was still missing, too. Five months ago, a fire had started in the abandoned east wing surgery suite. Luckily it hadn’t done a lot of damage since it hadn’t left the surgery suite, but no one could explain why. For all intents and purposes, the fire should have destroyed the entire hospital but didn’t. Two months ago, the first ghost hunting team had arrived, and everything had gone to shit. Strange things happened every day, and just three days ago, a patient had gone missing from inside the hospital.

The entire building was on lockdown. The hospital director had even hired extra security guards to stand at every entrance and exit to check ID’s and work badges. No one passed through the doors without being verified that they weren’t helping the patient escape her court-ordered hospital stay. Currently, for all they knew, the young woman that had gone missing was still inside the building, and so here Mai was, going to investigate the main building in her rounds, looking for her.

The main building was a maze of half-worked construction, and eerily abandoned units. In this wing, the electricity had never been turned back on, so she had to walk through the mess of hanging plastic sheets and framework with just a torch. She had started on the tenth floor, thoroughly searching each unit. She was on the fourth floor when she found the girl.

The girl was sitting on the railing of a ledge that looked out over where the hospital had been planning to relocate the front desk. Weak moonlight was filtering in through the high, unfinished windows behind her. She was in a hospital gown, her greasy hair hanging limply around her face, as she stared straight ahead. Her back was facing the four story drop, and her toes were on the floor so Mai was only a little worried that she was going to fall.

From her position down the hall, Mai fumbled with putting her torch away and digging out her walkie-talkie. Pushing the button of her radio, she waited for the familiar crackle to clear before asking central command, “this girl that’s missing, what does she look like?”

“Why? You found her?” Mikey asked, his Scottish burr rumbling across the line.

“Just tell me what she looks like, lad,” She hissed, her lips almost pressed to the receiver in her effort to keep quiet.

“167 centimeters, 60 kilograms, white, blonde hair, brown eyes, probably still dressed in a hospital gown.” Mikey listed, sounding bored.

“Then yeah, I found her. I’m in the main hospital, fourth floor corridor between the post-intensive and labor and delivery units.” Mai signed off of the radio, and clipped it back onto her belt. Pulling her torch back out, she slowly approached the girl. She stopped about ten feet away, not wishing to startle the girl, and make her drop off the railing. 

“Hello there,” she greeted, trying to sound as friendly as possible, “I don’t think you’re meant to be here. Can I escort you back to a unit?”

The girl’s head snapped up and she stared at Mai, startled. She was hunched over, her spine nearly visible under her thin clothes. Her small hands were curled tightly around the railing. Her hair was dirty, hanging limply about her cheeks. She was trembling- from fear or chill, Mai couldn’t tell- and made no attempt to move.

“It’s a long drop down, from where you are. Why don’t you come closer to me?” Mai held out her free hand, a friendly gesture to lure the girl away from her precarious perch.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “If I go with you, she’ll come back and torment me.”

“She?” Mai asked, confused. “Is there someone giving you trouble?”

“No, no.” The girl said, waving a hand. She wobbled on the railing, pitching forward. She caught herself on her toes, before she wiggled her way back to her sitting position on the railing. “There’s nothing you can do about her. She just whispers. Whispers and whispers and tells me things. Tells me to do things and I don’t want to but then it burns. Burns, burns, burns.” 

“Come with me,” Mai urged, taking a couple steps closer, “We can help you if you just take my hand. Come on now, love, let’s get you someplace warmer.”

“I can’t. She’ll come for me. I don’t want her to come back.” The poor girl hiccuped, and that’s when Mai realized she wasn’t shaking from a chill, but because she was crying. “She scares me. I don’t like her at all.” She shook her head, sniffing loudly. 

“We can help you, I promise.” Mai swore, sincere. “Just take my hand.”

“No, no!” The girl shook her head, still whispering. “She’s here! With us! She’ll see me go with you and she’ll make it worse.” Her nails dragged down her left arm, leaving dark red scratches that Mai could see from where she was standing, even in the gloom of the unlit corridor. 

“Make what worse?”

The girl looked around wildly, before fixating on Mai with an unnerving intensity. Her quiet voice was strangely steady. _“Everything,”_ she insisted. “For everyone that decides to meddle. She’ll pull this building down to ruin, with everyone inside it. She’s insidious. She likes to play games. We’re all just little puppets to her, in her game. I _hate_ her.” 

Her eyes flicked to somewhere over Mai’s shoulder and went wide. Her thin, dry lips split into a grin, showing off the bone white of her teeth. She made a disgusting hacking noise, then spit, splattering the ground by Mai’s feet with saliva. Mai stumbled back a step. Then the girl straightened, looking almost regal, defiance written across her face. 

“You ain’t gonna get me,” she said. Mai had the feeling that she wasn’t talking to her, but some unseen phantom over Mai’s shoulder. Then, pushing with her toes, the girl slid backwards off the railing, and plummeted.

 

-0-0-0-0-

Mai woke before the girl’s body hit the ground, and immediately, she felt nauseous. The car had stopped moving, which she was thankful for but a rolling wave of disgust pitched her stomach about, and Mai had to fight to keep from gagging. 

“Mai?” Lin asked, sounding a tiny bit concerned, adjusting the rear-view mirror to be able to see her without turning around, “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she lied, slowly sitting up. “I’m alright.”

Lin squinted at her through the mirror, looking suspicious. He let it go with a shrug, readjusted the mirror, and unbuckled his seatbelt. “We’re here,” he announced, pulling the keys from the ignition. “No doubt Oliver will want to speak with you.”

“Alright,” Mai said, unfastening herself as well. She slid out of the sedan and walked around to the back to collect her suitcase. 

Lin led her through the front doors of what appeared to be an emergency department. Off to the right side was a sitting area, where a couple of miserable looking people sat slumped in chairs. Right in front of Mai, sitting behind a counter and a wall of bulletproof glass was a nurse in blue scrubs and a security officer. Lin led her up to the front desk, and the nurse sitting there leaned forward, pressing a button to turn on her speaker. 

_“Welcome back,”_ she said, in English, through the crackle of the old equipment. _“Is this one of the six new members?”_

_“Yes,”_ Lin answered, _“This is Mai Taniyama. She will be staying with us indefinitely.”_ Lin gestured to Mai, who bowed absently, striving to be polite even though she couldn’t follow most of the conversation. 

_"I’ll let my charge nurse know, and we’ll get a badge made for her later, when the day crew is here. I trust you still have yours?”_

_“I do. Thank you for your assistance,”_ Lin said, dipping his head to the nurse. Mai copied his bow, not knowing what else to do. The nurse grinned, flattered with the respect. She waved as Lin lead Mai past the waiting area and back through a set of double doors. He directed her down a long hallway, past a set of elevators, and through another door to an area of the hospital that obviously wasn’t used much. 

It was fairly clean and well lit, but the floors were tacky with the remnants of carpet glue for flooring that hadn’t been installed. Wires were sticking out of the walls, and some of the patient rooms didn’t have doors. All of the construction that had been taking place was halted and abandoned. Mai remembered her dream and was suddenly very thankful that they weren’t going deeper into the bowels of the hospital.

Then it hit her. In less than five minutes she was going to be seeing Naru for the first time in over a year. She wondered if he’d changed at all. Had he taken any time to mourn Gene, or had he thrown himself into his work? Naru’s abrupt departure for England had left a pointedly awkward air between them, and she hoped that the year apart had helped mend that. As annoying and irritating as he could be, Mai missed him dearly, and under her anxiety, she was excited to see him again. 

Lin stopped in front of a door marked “staff” and looked back at her, “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she said, determined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kicked my ass.


	3. Chapter Three

Base looked like it usually did with some minor details changed.

Instead of a bank of individual television screens for each camera, seven computer monitors were spread across a wall, with four camera windows open on each screen. The monitors themselves looked like they had been built into the walls for clinical use, but since the unit they were on was empty, they were repurposed into running surveillance. Equipment was spread across a table off to the side of the monitors. Extra camcorders and digital recorders were plugged into a strip extension cord for charging, a couple K-II EMF detectors were set in a line next to REM PODs. There was even more equipment laid out but Mai didn’t recognize them, so they had to be new. Instead of sparsely furnished, or set up in some random extra room, base had a coffee table surrounded by a couch and two love seats, with desks in the front and far right corners of the room. A pair of shoes had been kicked off next to the couch, a grey backpack was left on top the farthest desk, a cooling cup of tea was left on the coffee table.

With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Mai realized the timeline of “a month or two” she had given to her landlord was a downright lie. Naru’s investigation had already been here for a long time. The base had a comfortable, lived in feeling to it, almost like an office, and Mai resigned herself to being here for the long run.

Naru was sitting at one of the desks, Bou-san looking over his shoulder, both their backs to Mai. When Lin closed the door with a sharp click, they both turned towards where she was standing. Bou-san grinned widely and stepped around Naru, nearly tripping over a chair to rush across the room. He swept Mai into his arms for a tight hug, lifting her off the ground. She shrieked with laughter, awkwardly patting his sides as he crushed her against his chest.

Dropping her back to her feet, Bou-san held Mai an arm’s length away, looking her up and down. “I missed you,” he said, grinning warmly, “I’m glad you’re doing well. You look so healthy!”

“I missed you, too, Bou-san!” Mai said, grinning back, leaning in for another quick hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Of course I’m here, I couldn’t just leave everyone floundering, now could I?” Bou-san ruffled her hair, before turning back to Naru.

Naru had stood, arms crossed and leaning against the desk. With a tiny smile he said, “Welcome to England, Mai.”

Smiling, Mai broke away from Bou-san, trapping Naru against the desk as she pulled him into a hug. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, having to stand on her toes to be able to even reach. He huffed, sounding annoyed, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a quick squeeze. He was so warm and all of her anxiety about seeing him again after such a long time melted away. He put his hands on her hips, gently pushing her back. Sucking in a sharp breath, she gave him another tiny squeeze before she let go, stepping away.

“I missed you,” she admitted. “All of you,” glancing back at Bou-san and Lin, grinning.

“There’s going to be more of us soon,” Naru said, catching her attention again. “John, Masako, Yasuhara and Ayako are due to arrive in the next few days. In the meantime, sit down. I’ll tell you and Takigawa a little bit of the history of the hospital.”

“Alright,” Bou-san said, shuffling over to one of the loveseats. He sat down and rubbed his hands together, “what do you got for us?”

“The hospital has been here for almost two hundred years. In the late nineteenth century, it was a very small, three story building.” Naru began as Mai went and sat down on the other loveseat. Lin handed Naru a tablet before heading over to the surveillance cameras to sit and monitor them. Naru turned the tablet on and swiped through a few pages before continuing, “In the middle of the twentieth century, they added on a mental health wing and also a rehab facility for veterans of both world wars. In 1967 the hospital was closed down until 1971, as they remodeled the building into what’s still standing today. By 2002, only the Post-Intensive, Intensive and Emergency care units were open because of a lower demand for treatment. Recently, the town of Nordhagen decided to buy the hospital and fix the disrepair that the rest of the hospital had fallen into.”

“How recently was it exactly?” Bou-san asked, looking thoughtful.

“Two years ago,” Naru answered.

“And that’s when the paranormal activity started, wasn’t it? Spirits don’t like renovations on the places that they’re attached to. Activity tends to get violent then.” Bou-san crossed his arms over his chest, not looking pleased at all.

“From the stories that various employees have told us in the previous weeks, the activity has always been here, but when the renovations started, that’s when it got worse.”

“How worse?” Mai asked, already half knowing the answer.

“Just since we’ve been here,” Naru began, face serious and drawn, “there have been three deaths and none of them were health-care related. A patient killed herself in the abandoned part of the hospital within the first week of our arrival, and since then, two investigators have been killed.”

“‘Killed’? What do you mean by killed?” Bou-san asked, taking the question right out of Mai’s mouth.

“I mean that neither of their deaths were natural,” Naru sat back on the couch, crossing his arms over his chest, scowling. “Something pushed Devin, an ASPPR investigator, to his death. And one of our own, Maria, has gone missing. How she died is unknown.”

Mai frowned, “how do you know she’s dead? You just said that she went missing. And you only told me that one person has died on the phone. You can’t possibly know if-”

“She’s dead.” Naru bluntly cut her off, making Mai frown. “I told you this case was dangerous when I first contacted you because of her death. Five of our other investigators have quit because of the high risk factor. Only one of the investigators that has died was under my employ.”

“I’ll believe she’s dead when someone finds a body,” Mai snapped, slumping back in her seat and crossing her arms. Naru rolled his eyes at her.

“It’s a good thing that the others, Mai, and I have all dealt with extremely dangerous investigations.” Bou-san gave them both a pointed look, raising an eyebrow. They both shrank back in their chairs, still glaring but Naru moved on.

“The group that’s here with us, ASPPR, they’re not used to dangerous investigations. I don’t trust them,” Naru said, pressing his fingers together as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

“Wait, isn’t that the American Society of Parapsychology and Paranormal Research?” Mai asked, making Naru blink at her in surprise. “Shouldn’t they be used to dangerous investigations? I thought they worked through the same type of hauntings we do.” She leaned back in her chair, smug she had caught Naru off guard.

“Yes, they’re the Americans, but no, they don’t work like SPR does,” Naru answered. “We will send a team of experienced psychics into an area, along with all our equipment to collect evidence of a paranormal occurrence, they usually don’t do that. Most of the time, they’ll just leave their equipment in an area and observe from outside.” He sounded like he disapproved.

“Ah,” Mai said, biting her lip before asking, “so, does anyone have an idea as to what’s really going on? It doesn’t sound like this is a situation like the one that was at that school. Is there anything we can focus on?”

Naru sighed, leaning back against the couch and dragging a hand down his face, “honestly, no. We’ve been here about two months now and no one has any clue as to what’s causing the vicious attacks on the staff or the deaths. From what we’ve been told by an investigator that quit, is that there are many spirits here but only one that’s truly dangerous. For now, we’ll focus on purifying the spirits who aren’t dangerous, and eventually work our way towards finding out what’s killing us.”

Bou-san groaned, “that means I’m going to be doing at least an exorcism a day, yeah? God, you’re already planning to work me to the bone and I haven’t even been here a day.”

Naru shrugged, “you could have stayed home.”

“Shut the hell up, you know I couldn’t have. Not when it’s you.” Bou-san scoffed before yawning loudly. “Where am I sleeping? Let me take a nap before we do anything crazy.”

Naru stood, “I’ll show you.” He handed his tablet back to Lin, before pointing at Mai sternly. “Don’t go anywhere alone.”

“What, why?” Mai crossed her arms, annoyed.

“I _just_ told you that people have died. That’s why. You’re not the only one who has to follow this rule.” Naru visibly fought to not roll his eyes, which almost made Mai smile.

“Finnnne,” Mai sighed, slumping back in her seat. She twisted around to watch Naru and Bou-san leave. “Anything I can do while you’re gone?”

“Actually,” Naru said, pausing at the door and catching Bou-san’s arm so he didn’t go wandering into the hall on his own, “you can. Make some tea, would you?” Then he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long wait, I know, but I promise that I am continuing to work on this. It's not abandoned and it won't ever be.


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